Served in the Civil War in Company H, 27th Regiment Connecticut Volunteers Infantry. Enlisted on 10 September 1862 from New Haven, Connecticut; mustered in on 27 October 1862, Company H, 27th Reg't. Conn. V. I. as a Private; mustered out on 22 March 1863 in a Regimental Hospital at Falmouth, Virginia.

"Clinical Records of the Continued Fevers -- Fever Cases from Regimental Records --Case 4. — Bronchitis; slight diarrhoea and delirium; sordes; rose-colored spots about the 10th day; farorable signs at end of second week; distention and ecchymoses of the abdomen; bed-sores; pneumonic symptoms and death at the end of the fourth week. — Private Charles L. Alling, Co. H, 27th Conn. Vols.; age 18; a slender boy, was first seen Feb. 18, 1863, suffering from a cough contracted while on picket duty. Veratrum viride was given daily until the 28th, when it was omitted and quinine substituted, sixty grains in divided doses during the day. He was admitted to hospital on the 22d as a case of typhoid fever with bronchial complication. Small doses of ipecacuanha, opium and camphor were administered. On the 23d the pulse was 96 and the bowels tender but quiet. Three ten-grain doses of quinine were given during the day. On the 25th the tongue was dark at the base, red at the tip, the lips and teetlh black, the bowels moved twice, the mind wandering. He had been taking beef-tea and quinine up to this time: whiskey was now added. A few indistinct rose-colored spots appeared on the 27th; speech was difficult and incoherent. There was some dysuria on the 28th, relieved by hot fomentations to the abdomen; the tongue was dry, dark and cracked: pulse 108. The patient had coughed more or less since his admission, but at this time the chest symptoms became more prominent. On March 2 the pulse was 120 and dicrotic, the abdomen tender, the bowels moved three times, the stools thin and watery; the hands and cleeks were purplish in color; speech somewhat less incoherent. On the 4th the pulse was 120, tongue slightly moist and softer than heretofore, face pale; the patient took some interest in his condition and suffered much from abdominal distention. Turpentine was prescribed. On the 5th the pulse was 108 during sleep, 132 while awake, respiration 23, tongue dry, abdomen distended and ecchymosed, skin over sacrum congested. On the 6th the pulse was 144, respiration 30, tongue dry, cracked, dark and bloody. No material change took place until the 8th, when the integuments over the sacrum formed a sloughing bed-sore. On the 10th much flatus was passed from the bowels with great relief to the patient; dysphagia was noted at this time. On the 11th the pulse was 128 to 132, respiration 36 to 40, pulse dicrotic, cheeks flushed, lips and nose white, tongue dry, brown and cracked; the distention of the abdomen was again a cause of much suffering and prevented the patient from taking his allowance of beef-tea and whiskey; the bowels were moved twice. On the 16th the dicrotism of the pulse ceased, the tongue became more generally moist, and the patient smiled in answer to a question. But delirium returned on the 19th, respiration became reduced to 26 and the lower jaw moved with each breath; the expectoration was rusty. Death took place on the 21st." -- The Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion. Part III, Volume I. (3rd Medical volume) by U. S. Army Surgeon General's Office, 1888.